Hello,

I've got a '97 ford explorer sport 2dr with a stereo/speaker issue. My suv has the premium sound with 6 disc changer/rear seat stereo contols/sub woofer in the back.

As long as I've owned the vehicle (going on 5 years) the subwoofer never worked. From time to time it would kick in for a beat or two and then nothing.

Over that time I've had issues with the speakers. Mainly the right front passenger side. It cuts in and out and drives me CRaZy! I thought new speakers would solve the problem. NOPE.

Now, I've got no sound coming from the right front passenger side at all with either the new speaker or the old one.

Before I take it into a local stereo shop I'd like to try to get some input from the member here as what could be the issue.

Is the speaker problem an issue with the head unit?
Or
Is the speaker problem an issue with the amp?

Could this be a fix I can do on my own or better to leave to the experts? With the economy the way it is, money always the issue. I just want everything working like it should, subwoofer included.

Your help is appreciated!

 

You don't happen to have access to an oscilloscope, do you? That would make easy work of figuring out where the issue is. What you really need to do is find out if the signal is coming out of the deck and if so, then locate the break. For the passenger side speaker, the break could be in the flex tube between the cabin and the door. But for the subwoofer that is not likely the case since the wiring runs from the deck under the front seat/rocker panel to the rear.

I trust that you've tried the balance and fader settings on the deck to ensure that is not the issue. You still have the factory head unit, correct?

-Rod

 

Thanks for the insight. I bended and messed with the flex tubing and the wires within to see it there might indeed be a break in the speaker wire. That didn't seem to work. I feel the problem lies with the amp. After reading numerous old posts it appears that the amp powers the speakers. If the channel to the subwoofer went out long ago, whos to say the channel wouldn't have went out to the front passenger side?

Any tips or suggestions that I should look for once I pull open the rear panel to gain access to the amp and subwoofer?

The entire stereo unit is OEM.

And even if I had an oscilloscope I wouldn't for the life of me know how to use it!

 

Without a scope this will be difficult to troubleshoot. You might just have to replace parts to figure out what is bad. You could access the amp (although I think your subwoofer amp will be separate from your door speaker amp) and swap the speaker wires around to see if one of the now working channels enables the passenger door speaker to work, and the vice versa. If that's the case, the problem is likely a bad solder joint or two in the amplifier at the amp IC for the bad channel. Similarly, I'd suspect a bad solder joint in the subwoofer amp as well since that one would work intermittently.

-Rod

 

Thanks for the tips. It could be a bad solder joint. But the vehicle is 13 years old and my thinking is, the amp has run out of life. It probably started with the sub woofer and then the front passenger speaker. Who's to say the whole thing won't go out soon!?

Called a couple of salvage yards and found a 97 intact. With work, won't have time to go and pull it till this weekend. $20 for the new amp. Hope it works!

 

If you have the subwoofer it would appear that you have the LUX/JBL stereo system rather than the Premium system. From the factory service manual the Premium system has an external amplifier but no subwoofer. The Subwoofer is with the LUX/JBL system. In the LUX/JBL system there is a subwoofer amplifier but the door speakers are powered by the deck.

-Rod

 

You are correct. I have the JBL system. So could it be I have two issues? From all I've read here and other places, the amp in the rear powers not only the sub but also the speakers. But if it's like your saying, could I have a channel go out to the front passenger speaker from the head unit and a burnt amp?

 

On my former 2000 Mountaineer with the JBL system the subwoofer amplifier definitely only powered the subwoofer, and only 5 wires going to it if I recall correctly (Low and High audio, 6V mute, power, and ground) but certainly not wires for all speakers. The diagram matches the diagram for the 1998 which is what I reviewed for the earlier posts. I doubt the 1997 was different. I would also doubt that there is a single bad channel in the deck. I would instead suspect that the wiring between the deck and the passenger speaker is bad. I'm not sure what to suggest is the most likely candidate for the intermittent subwoofer. It still seems like probably a connection (wiring or solder joint) issue to me. I haven't experienced many solder joint integrity issues on Ford products though.

-Rod

 

I've got some trouble shooting to do this weekend. This is bothering me that I don't have the time during the week to start pulling ***** apart. Starting Saturday morning I'll be on it.

 

if you are going to keep it, and the amp turns out not to be the problem, I'd replace the head unit with a better system, and rewire everything... you could keep the sub you have, and amp as well, and just wire that in... get a unit with an SD card reader, or ipod control, and then you don't need to worry about the CD changer loss... even a cheap/small card or ipod shuffle can store a lot more songs than 10 CD's worth...

if you're tearing stuff apart anyways, might as well just replace it... just for the cost of a wiring harness and a new head unit... just my 2 cents...

 

Well, couldn't find one at the junkyard and local stereo shop said amp is going out. Luckily, I found an amp for $40 on Ebay!

If that doesn't take care of the front speaker and subwoofer then what can I say? I won't put anymore money into a 97 explorer other than maintenence. Definitely won't spend the money on a new head unit and all that other expensive stereo equipment.

 

I thought I read that you bought new speakers though too - I look at a good stereo as something I keep - just pull it when you sell/junk the Truck...

I have my original Sony Mobile ES from 1992, and still use it to this day - and it's been in 3 cars/trucks...

As was pointed out, a Scope would tell the story if the amp is bad or not, but for $40, it's cheaper than even renting a scope :-) - the amp is only for the sub, not 100% sure it's the same, since you have left side problems, which would be the amp off the head unit driving that...

just giving you my 2 cents here - everyone does have a budget, but I look at fine audio pieces as an investment, more so than the car it's in... a good Alpine, or other such brand will be a worthwhile investment, if you like good sound - if you're plan is to listen to NPR, etc - then none of this really matters.